After 8 days of fighting, calm returns to Gaza

Israel-Gaza conflict – A boy stands in the rubble of a destroyed shop in Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, on Monday, November 26.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian school girls walk in a destroyed class room on Monday, November 26, in Gaza. The school was damaged some days ago, before a truce between Hamas and Israel.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Robert Serry, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, greets children during a visit to Gaza to survey damage caused by the exchange of fire between Israel and Hamas militants, on Sunday, November 25.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Employees of the Palestinian Interior Ministry pray in the rubble of the Interior Ministry building in Gaza City on Sunday, November 25.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli soldier fires during clashes with Palestinians after Israeli settlers fought with villagers in the northern West Bank village of Qusra on Saturday, November 24.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian schoolboys look through a hole at their damaged school in Gaza City on Saturday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinians school girls walks along a corridor of their school in Gaza City on Saturday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A Palestinian schoolgirl writes on the blackboard of a classroom in Gaza City on Saturday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian youths gesture during a demonstration next to the security fence on the Gaza border with Israel east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Friday, November 23. A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces near the Gaza border, the first casualty since the two sides agreed a truce ending their week-long conflict, Palestinian medical sources said.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A Palestinian boy plays in a demolished car in Gaza City on Friday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed house in Gaza City on Friday.

Israel-Gaza conflict – Hasidic Jewish boys dance near the border with northern Gaza on Thursday. The Jews provided music on a visit to show their support for the Israeli soldiers.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A Hasidic Jewish boy dances on the barrel of a tank Thursday as he and others celebrate the Israeli soldiers.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh waves to the crowd Thursday in Gaza City. Haniyeh, who heads the governing party of Gaza, said the cease-fire showed the United States had been forced to soften its stance in the region in the wake of the Arab Spring.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinians celebrate news of the cease-fire with Israel in Gaza City on Wednesday, November 21.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli soldiers sit in a restaurant at the Yad Mordechay Junction as they watch Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliver a statement on live television from Jerusalem.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Rockets launch from Gaza City as an explosion is seen on the horizon at Israel's border with Gaza on Wednesday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli soldiers pray next to an artillery gun along Israel's border with Gaza on Wednesday, November 21. Violence continued in the region Wednesday, leaving hopes of a cease-fire in tatters just hours after a halt in fighting seemed close.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Emergency services personnel work at the scene of an explosion on a bus Wednesday in Tel Aviv, Israel. The blast on the public transport bus left at least 22 injured, a hospital official said.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A woman is helped at the scene by emergency workers Wednesday after the explosion on the bus in Tel Aviv.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – The Ministry of Internal Security compound in Gaza City is in ruins Wednesday after an Israeli airstrike targeted it overnight.

Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli soldier sleeps in a deployment area Wednesday on Israel's border with Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A Palestinian pushes his bicycle amid debris Wednesday near the destroyed compound of the Ministry of Internal Security in Gaza City. An Israeli airstrike targeted the building overnight.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – The Israeli military strikes border tunnels between Egypt and southern Gaza on Tuesday, November 20.

Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli forces fire a shell from the Israel-Gaza border into Gaza on Tuesday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Men on motorcycles drag the body of man through the streets of Gaza City on Tuesday. The men dragging the body claimed it was the body of a collaborator and an Israeli spy.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Ronit Hakmon reacts to the damage to her home in Beer Sheva, Israel, on Tuesday, after a rocket from Gaza militants hit it.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian families evacuate their homes following an Israeli airstrike Tuesday in Gaza City. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the weeklong attacks, the Gaza Ministry of Health says. Four Israelis have died.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian children stand at the gate of their home Tuesday as they watch a funeral procession for those killed following an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A Palestinian carries a bag of items salvaged from a house destroyed in an Israeli airstrike Tuesday on Gaza City.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli soldier reads his morning prayers Tuesday at an Israeli army deployment area near the Israel-Gaza border as they prepare for a potential ground operation in the Palestinian coastal enclave.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A Palestinian boy walks through the rubble of Hamas commander's house Tuesday in the southern Gaza town of Rafa. An overnight Israeli airstrike targeted the home.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli F-15 takes off from an Israeli air force base on Monday, November 19, on a mission over the Gaza Strip. Israel carried out 80 strikes on Monday, raising to more than 1,300 the number of sites targeted since it began its bombing campaign on Wednesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli pilot adjusts a strap as he sits in the cockpit of a jet at an air force base on Monday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian firefighters extinguish a blaze following an Israeli airstrike in a Gaza City tower housing Palestinian and international media on Monday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli girl holds her sister as they take cover in a large concrete pipe used as a bomb shelter during a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on Monday in Nitzan, Israel.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli children play in a large concrete pipe used as a bomb shelter on Monday in Nitzan.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Birzeit University students clash with Israeli soldiers at the Atara checkpoint close to the West Bank university as they protest against Israel's military action on Monday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Birzeit University students clash with Israeli soldiers on Monday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian women mourn during the funeral Monday of members of one family killed when an Israeli missile struck a three-story building in Gaza City on Sunday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli artillery shells hit a target in the Gaza Strip on Monday near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli soldier from a tank squadron attends a morning briefing at an Israeli army deployment area near the Israel-Gaza Strip border on Monday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli soldiers from a tank squadron prepare ammunition at an Israeli army deployment area on Monday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A paramedic helps a Palestinian woman out of her building, which was damaged during an Israeli air raid on a nearby sporting center in Gaza City on Monday. At least 90 Palestinians, including a family of 10, have been killed, officials say.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A man covers his nose and mouth as he passes burning debris after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on Monday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A Palestinian man carries a stuffed toy through a street littered with debris after an air raid on a sporting center in Gaza City on Monday.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian men gather around a crater caused by an Israeli airstrike at a home in Gaza City on Sunday, November 18.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian relatives grieve at the hospital in Gaza City on Sunday, November 18, over family members killed in an airstrike.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinians search the debris of the home following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Sunday, November 18.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli emergency worker inspects the damage to a car in Ofakim, Israel, that was hit by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip on Sunday, November 18.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli soldiers wait at an Israeli army deployment area near the Israel-Gaza Strip border on Sunday, November 18, as they prepare for a potential ground operation in the Palestinian coastal enclave. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is ready to "significantly escalate" its operation against militants in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on an office of Hamas television channel Al-Aqsa in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on Sunday, November 18. Israeli warplanes hit the Gaza City media center and homes in northern Gaza in the early morning.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian children look at damaged buildings following Israeli air strikes Sunday, November 18, in Rafah.

Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli soldier from a tank squadron adjusts the tank barrel at an Israeli army deployment area on Sunday, November 18.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Cloth hangs from a window of a building damaged during Israeli air strikes on Gaza City on Sunday, November 18.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A Palestinian demonstrator throws stones in front of the headquarters of the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank city of Jenin on Sunday, November 18, during a protest against Israel's ongoing military operation in Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A fireball rises as the Israeli air force carries out a raid over Gaza City on Saturday, November 17.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli woman and her children take cover as sirens wail in Tel Aviv on Saturday, November 17.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinians walk amid the debris of a burning factory near the house of Ezzedine Haddad, commander of the armed wing of the Hamas movement, after it was destroyed during an Israeli air strike on Gaza City on Saturday, November 17.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A Palestinian woman helps her friend cover her face with a traditional scarf during clashes at the Hawara checkpoint in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday, November 17. People rallied against the Israeli military operations.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinians stand on the rubble of the demolished home of Ezzedine Haddad, commander of the armed wing of the Hamas movement, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday, November 17. Israeli air strikes in Gaza killed 10 Palestinians, five of them militants, as nine Israelis were hurt by rocket fire, four of them soldiers, medics said.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli soldiers fire tear gas toward strone throwers demonstrating against the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip at the Qalandia checkpoint, in the occupied West Bank, on Saturday, November 17. Israeli strikes on Gaza destroyed the Hamas government headquarters as Israel called up thousands more reservists for a possible ground war.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian youth clash with Israeli soldiers during protests at the Hawara checkpoin on Saturday, November 17.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli soldiers stand guard by the Iron Dome defense system launch site on Saturday, November 17, in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A picture taken from the southern Israeli border with Gaza shows smoke billowing following an Israeli air strike inside the Palestinian territory on Saturday, November 17. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Israel would be held to account for the children who were among 40 people dead in three days of airstrikes on Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A Palestinian youth takes cover behind a makeshift barrier during clashes with Israeli soldiers on November 17. Israeli strikes on Gaza destroyed the Hamas government headquarters as Israel called up thousands more reservists for a possible ground war.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli missile from the Iron Dome defense missile system is launched to intercept and destroy incoming rocket fire from Gaza on November 17 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Israeli troops have been massing on the border as some 200 targets were hit overnight in Gaza, including Hamas cabinet buildings.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli civilians run for cover during a rocket attack launched from Gaza on November 17 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli soldiers gather next to their armored bulldozers stationed on Israel's border with Gaza on Saturday, November 17.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli soldiers fire tear gas toward stone throwers demonstrating against the Israeli military offensive in Gaza in the village of Beit Omar, north of the West Bank town of Hebron, on Saturday, November 17. Egypt and Turkey put the onus on Israel to end the fighting around Gaza as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Cairo a day after Washington urged the two governments to pressure the Palestinians.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An injured student from the University of Birzeit is carried away Saturday, November 17, during clashes with Israeli soldiers as hundreds of students took part in a demonstration against the ongoing Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip in the Israeli occupied West Bank town of Betunia. Israeli strikes on Gaza killed 10 Palestinians and destroyed the Hamas government headquarters.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A student from the University of Birzeit throws a molotov cocktail toward Israeli soldiers during clashes.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli air raid in Gaza City on November 17, 2012. Israeli air strikes hit the cabinet headquarters of Gaza's Hamas government after militants fired rockets at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv as Israel called up thousands more reservists in readiness for a potential ground war.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian paramedics carry an injured woman on a stretcher Saturday, November 17, following an Israeli air raid on a house in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Smoke billows across the southern Israeli border with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, November 17, following Israeli air strikes inside the Palestinian territory.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A Palestinian Hamas policeman looks at an Israeli rocket in the street in Gaza City on Saturday, November 17.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli man walks to his house damaged by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip in the moshav of Sde Uziyahu near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. The Israeli military said it had sealed off all main roads around Gaza and declared a closed military zone, in the latest sign it was poised to launch a first ground offensive on the Palestinian enclave since December 2008-January 2009.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest near the Israeli Embassy in Madrid on Friday, November 16, against Israel's aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli children wave their national flag Saturday, November 17, as they greet a bus carrying soldiers on a road leading to the Israel-Gaza border near the southern Israeli town of Ofakim.

Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli soldiers stand guard while explosives experts examine the site where a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed near the Jewish settlement of Gush Etzion in the village of Kisan, south of Bethlehem on Friday, November 16.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A relative grieves during the funeral for Itzik Amsalem in Kiryat Malakhi, Israel, on Friday, November 16.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian protesters hold up the Hamas flag during a rally Friday, November 16, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – People take cover during a rocket attack at a funeral Friday, November 16, in Kiryat Malakhi, Israel.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian youths throw stones at Israeli security forces Friday, November 16, in a West Bank village near Bethlehem.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli soldier aims at Palestinian youth at a West Bank checkpoint Friday, November 16, during a protest against the fighting in Gaza.

Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian firefighters try to extinguish a blaze Friday, November 16, at the Ministry of Interior in Gaza City following an Israeli air raid.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Relatives of Itzik Amsalam, who was killed Thursday, November 15, in Kiryat Malakhi, Israel, mourn during the funeral on Friday, November 16..

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A woman cries during the funeral of Itzik Amsalam on Friday, November 16.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli soldier fires a tear gas canister toward Palestinian stone throwers on a road mainly used by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Beit Omar on Friday, November 16.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinians run for cover after an Israeli airstrike hits Gaza City on Friday, November 16.

Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli soldiers conduct a patrol as some 16,000 reserve troops are drafted in on Friday, November 16.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian mourners carry the body of Audi Naser during his funeral in Gaza on Friday, November 16.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian women and children cry during the funeral of Audi Naser on Friday, November 16.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian firefighters try to extinguish a fire at the Civilian Affairs branch of the Ministry of Interior on Friday, November 16.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Smokes billows from a target of an Israeli airstrike Friday, November 16, in Gaza near the border with Israel.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli woman looks out from an apartment building in Ashdod, Israel, damaged by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants on Friday, November 16.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinians extinguish a fire after Israeli airstrikes targeted the Interior Ministry building in Gaza City Friday, November 16.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israelis take cover in a pipe used as a bomb shelter, after a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, November 15, in Kiryat Malachi, Israel.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli man looks out from an apartment building that was hit by a rocket launched presumably from the Gaza Strip, claiming three lives on Thursday, November 15, in Kiryat Malachi, Israel.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinians extinguish a fire after Israeli air strikes targeted an electricity generator that fed the house of Hamas's Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City, on Thursday, November 15.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A crater is left at a spot targeted by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City early Thursday, November 15.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli soldiers rest by their armored personnel carriers stationed on the Israel-Gaza border on Thursday, November 15.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Rescue workers evacuate a body Thursday, November 15, in the Israeli town of Kiryat Malakhi after a rocket launched from Gaza hit an apartment building.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian relatives mourn over the body of Hanen Tafish, a 10-month-old girl, at the morgue of the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Thursday, November 15, after she died following an Israeli air strike in the Zeitun neighbourhood.

Israel-Gaza conflict – A Palestinian pleads for help as he and others try to save a man trapped under his car after an Israeli air raid Thursday, November 15, in northern Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Israeli police inspect an apartment building hit by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Kiryat Malakhi on Thursday, November 15. At least three Israelis were killed and four were wounded, an Israeli police spokesman said.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – The Israeli military launches a missile Thursday, November 15, from the southern city of Beersheba.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A picture taken from the southern Israeli town of Sderot shows smoke billowing from a spot targeted by an Israeli airstrike inside Gaza on Thursday, November 15.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – A Palestinian man inspects his damaged house following an Israeli airstrike early Thursday, November 15, in Gaza City.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – An Israeli reacts after a rocket launched from Gaza hits a building Thursday, November 15, in Kiryat Malakhi.

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Israel-Gaza conflict – Palestinian firefighters extinguish the blaze from the car of Ahmed al-Jaabari, head of Hamas' military wing, after an Israeli airstrike hit it in Gaza City on Wednesday, November 14. The Israeli strike killed al-Jaabari.

Story highlights

The cease-fire agreement calls for "total cessation of all hostile activity" from Gaza

Israeli soldiers at the Gaza border pack up and leave; nearby Israelis skeptical

After eight days of bone-shattering bombardment, Gaza was calm Thursday and Friday as residents of this battered land sought to return to their daily lives.

North of Gaza City, the Abu Khusa family was preparing to move to a rented house until they can repair their home's roof, which was blown off. In the meantime, they said, they were hoping the peace would hold.

"God willing, it will last 100 years, 200 years, for the sake of our children," said Shadia Abu Khusa.

In Gaza City, thousands of people took part in a celebration that was not so much of a military victory as a psychological one.

For impoverished Gaza, whose 1.7 million residents were massively outgunned by Israel's military, to survive was to triumph. "I think people feel now that the only way to push Israel to give concessions is resistance," said Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, who cited Israel's agreement to Wednesday's cease-fire as vindication of Hamas' struggle.

"Because President Abbas spent about 20 years in negotiations, but they got nothing from this," he added, referring to Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the rival Palestinian Fatah group, which governs the occupied West Bank and is considered more moderate than Hamas.

This new reality may embolden Hamas to push for even more.

After the cease-fire ended the flareup between the Palestinians of Gaza and the Israel Defense Forces, Hamas can claim credit for extracting important concessions from Israel, including its promise to loosen Gaza's isolation from the outside world.

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Hamas has also shown that its rockets have improved and that it is not as vulnerable to Israeli airstrikes as it was during the "Cast Lead" Operation four years ago, when more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed. Its international stature grew as it gained popular and official Arab support.

Israel's military also claimed success, saying on Wednesday that it had destroyed "significant elements" of Hamas' rocket-launching capabilities. And its "Iron Dome" missile-defense system proved able to intercept numerous attacks from the south.

Netanyahu, who is looking forward to elections in January, also showed himself to be an effective military leader. Polls say the vast majority of Israelis supported the operation.

Palestinian leaders sought to cast the cease-fire as a catalyst toward uniting their divided factions, while Israelis said they were happy for quiet after the shelling and counterstrikes.

In Gaza City, supporters of Hamas and Fatah gathered near the Parliament in a rare display of unity that included yellow Fatah flags and green Hamas banners flapping in the breeze alongside Palestinian flags.

The mood was celebratory and militant. The leader of Islamic Jihad, a party to the truce that was brokered by Egypt and that took effect on Wednesday night, called for more weapons to maintain resistance against Israel.

"We should be ready through our unity, through our resistance, to keep the perseverance and steadfastness of our people," Mohammed Hindi said.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh declared in a televised speech that Israel had "raised the white flag." He described the fighting as "preparation to liberate Jerusalem" and the al-Aqsa mosque located on the Temple Mount.

Haniyeh, who heads the governing party of Gaza, said the cease-fire showed the United States had been forced to soften its stance in the region in the wake of the Arab Spring.

"The victory of Gaza is a solid truth, not a phenomenon," Haniyeh said. "The era of Egypt and the region has changed, and America has now begun learning to listen to a new language."

The violence left more than 160 Palestinians dead, many more injured and thousands homeless.

At least six Israelis were killed, including a soldier who died Thursday of wounds suffered Wednesday just before the cease-fire took hold, the Israel Defense Forces said. For the first time, Israel experienced rocket attacks from Gaza on its main cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

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The truce negotiated by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy followed a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a series of phone calls from U.S. President Barack Obama to the main players.

However, it was unclear if the latest events would lead to a resumption of long-stalled negotiations on a broader peace agreement or serve simply as a respite, as has occurred in the past.

"New dynamics in the Middle East potentially could make this time different," the independent International Crisis Group said Thursday in a report.

The report said Morsy's government had demonstrated pragmatism in negotiating the cease-fire and presented Israel and Hamas with the opportunity to reset expectations because it had credibility among Islamists.

"Ultimately, as the dust settles and guns turn silent, much more will be known about the new regional map -- how it works, who sets the rules, how far different parties will go, whether the obstacles continually encountered in the past can be overcome," the report said.

But it minced no words about the victims. "This short war has been, as President Obama might put it, a teachable moment," it said. "A pity the education came at such a high price. And that, once more, all the wrong people -- the civilians on both sides -- were asked to foot the bill."

Over the eight days of conflict, Palestinians counted 163 dead and 1,225 wounded in the wake of 1,500 Israeli strikes, Gaza's Health Ministry said.

Hamas' military wing, the al Qassam brigade, said it fired 1,573 rockets toward Israel during the hostilities, including three shot toward Jerusalem.

In addition to the six Israeli fatalities, 200 others were wounded.

A spokesman for Netanyahu told CNN on Thursday that Hamas' stance toward Israel harms the ability to negotiate.

"You must remember, Hamas, unfortunately, is the enemy of peace," said the spokesman, Mark Regev. "Hamas doesn't want to negotiate. Hamas says that any Palestinian who negotiates with Israel is a traitor to the Palestinian cause."

Bus bombing shakes Tel Aviv – Emergency services gather at the scene of an explosion on a bus with passengers onboard.

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Bus bombing shakes Tel Aviv – A general view of the scene after an explosion on a bus in central Tel Aviv.

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EXPAND GALLERY

"Thank God, through you, we were able to push back this naked aggression that targeted Gaza and its people," Shaath said, adding that "we should crown this victory by ending the division and expanding the national unity."

Egyptian politician Sayyed al-Badawi, president of the moderate Wafd Party, also congratulated the crowd, saying, "You have broken the will of the Zionist entity -- you have made them feel uncertain and insecure."

The agreement calls for both sides to move toward opening border crossings to facilitate the movement of people and goods.

On Thursday, some of the Israeli soldiers who had been moved to Gaza's border for a potential ground invasion packed their gear to leave.

Residents of Ashkelon, within rocket range of Gaza's border, expressed skepticism about whether the cease-fire would hold, noting that similar agreements have proved short-lived. Some said they would have preferred that Israel's military stage a ground invasion to destroy the militants' rocket capabilities.

Under the cease-fire, talks were to begin Thursday on easing economic restrictions on Gaza.

Since the cease-fire was declared, three rockets have been launched from Gaza into Israel, the IDF said Thursday. Two of the three landed in open areas, and Israel's defense system intercepted the third.

A senior Obama administration official said Morsy had been "very constructive" and "very pragmatic" in his dealings with his U.S. counterpart. He and Obama developed a "relationship of trust and were able to work through some of these issues," the official said.

The cease-fire calls for Israel to halt all acts of aggression on Gaza, including incursions and the targeting of people, according to Egypt's state news agency. It also calls for the Palestinian factions to cease all hostilities from Gaza against Israel, including the firing of rockets and border attacks. Gazans could see an easing of border restrictions.

Regev said the agreement calls for "complete and total cessation of all hostile activity initiated in the Gaza Strip."

"For us, that's victory. That's what we wanted," he said.

The fighting was ignited by the November 14 assassination by Israel of Ahmed al-Jaabari, the head of Hamas' military wing. Israel said its intent was to end rocket attacks on southern Israel from inside Gaza by degrading Palestinian capabilities.